SWC is a bitcoin poker site that I have been playing on for a few months. The traffic seems to be picking up and you can play legally from the US since you aren't playing with US$. You don't have to even give the site any personal information. Basically, you buy bitcoins (through a site like Coinbase), set up a swc account and send the bitcoins from coinbase to swc. To cashout, you request the bitcoins to be sent to your coinbase account - from there you can use them as you want or cash out to your bank account.It is easier than I made it sound - deposits usually take 15-45 minutes. Cashouts take anywhere from 2 - 8 hours.I probably made it sound a little more complicated than it is (forgot how to type more than 140 characters). If you have specific questions, I can walk you through the process of getting funds on/off the site and setting up an account/software.End Blogger Freeroll Shill - just like the old days for FTP and Pokerstars.

I've been meaning to post a LV trip report but have been crazy busy between work and fun. I'm currently in Hawaii and family is here now too. Trip report might have to wait for one night when everyone is asleep or when I get back to Orlando.

I'll be in Las Vegas from 6/25-7/2. I booked the flight with my airline miles (at least I'm getting something out of all the traveling I've been doing.)

I'll be staying at the Rio. I haven't played enough to maintain my previous Harrah's Rewards status but I get got a decent rate on the room.

As far as plans go while I'm there, I'm pretty much going to play it by ear. I'll be playing mostly cash games and may throw in a Venetian, WSOP, Binion's ME, or Casear's tourney in there to break things up.

Is anyone keeping a list of blogger dates in WSOP.? Let me know if you are in LV during that time and want to me up?

Unless you've been living under a rock buried deep in an underwater cave, then you are well aware that Online Poker is history in the US. I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything, but I wanted to post about my feelings on the future of online poker.

This post isn't meant to give you an in depth analysis of the indictments or keep you up to date for the latest news. For that visit some of the following:

Plus many others on twitter, in the blog-o-sphere, on the forums, etc, etc.

Future of Online Poker (IMO)

I'm not trying to be Debbie Downer, but I think that there is a very low likelihood of online poker getting regulated in the US in the near future. It is easy for online poker players to say that the DOJ's move to shut down the FTP, PS, and UB/AP is the first step of the government's larger plan to regulate and tax online poker. The reality of the situation is quite different in my (probably unpopular) opinion. This is not a calculated move by the government to get their piece of the pie. It is, simply, the government shutting down what they believe to be illegal activity that has been consistently and increasingly flaunted in their face with the ever increasing .NET advertising in print, online, and on TV. Simple as that.

Do I think online poker will be regulated in the near future? I hope I'm wrong, but No. (maybe 5% chance by the end of the year) I don't think it will even be discussed in legislative committees on the federal level until these cases are resolved. The members of Congress that were on the fence on regulated online poker will most likely shy away from the issue because the average American doesn't know any of the details of the case. All they see is "Online Poker sites shut down by the government because they are illegal." We know that is not the true picture, but the average American doesn't. These middle of the road members of Congress are going to realize that some of their constituents are going to see them as backing illegal gambling because so many voters are idiots.

Do I think online poker will ever be regulated? Yes. I would put the chance around 35% by the end of 2012 and increasing each year. It may take some state's passing online poker bills and the federal government challenging the states' rights to offer online poker plus all the red tape that follows. I'm not sure when or how this will happen, but I think that is the most likely way we get online poker - states allowing it and the fed govt eventually deciding it should be implemented and taxed.

It makes me sad to think of online poker going away. I started playing well before most and have enjoyed it immensely over the years. More in my next post......

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.
Registration code: XXXXXX 780350

1. Play 600,000 cash game hands. I've been playing only full ring rush NLHE, so this shouldn't be that difficult even if I'm traveling a lot.

2. Cash in a WSOP tourney (assuming I play one this year). I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it to the WSOP this year because of work/family events in June. If I do, I plan to play at least 1 tourney (maybe 2) and the first goal will be to cash. The second goal will be, of course to make a deep run.

3. Lose 35 lbs by WSOP. The first 20 lbs should be pretty easy. The last 15 will be the difficult part. I don't plan to do anything drastic at first. The only real changes I'll make is exercise more and eat healthier.

I know it's been a while, but I thought I would drop in to wish everyone HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! My traveling is starting to slow a little so I may find time to start posting again.

Tampa Hard Rock/Live Poker

The Tampa Hard Rock just opened a new poker room, so I will definitely being checking it out one day next week. It will be a rare treat to play some live poker. I haven't played near as much live as I had hoped. Once they changed the limits from $100 cap buy-in to real uncapped games, I assumed that I would be playing a minimum of twice/month. That hasn't happened because of all my traveling for work. I don't want to spend any of my little time while I'm home away from the family, so poker takes a back seat. The kids will be at my Mom's house for a couple of days next week, so it will be the perfect opportunity to check out the new digs at Hard Rock.

I may be bored to death playing live cash games after not playing anything other than four tables of NL FR Rush Poker. There might be a little difference in playable hands when you are seeing 25 hands/hr vs. 1,100+ hands/hr. I guess I'll find out next week.

---------------------------------Twitter vs. Blogs

Yin and Yang. As Twitter has taken off with poker bloggers, the quantity of blog posts seems to have dropped significantly. It only seems logical. If you can follow someone's journey through a tourney in real time on twitter, why would you need/want to read their recap of it on their blog 3 days later. If you feel like reliving their tourney then you can just follow their twitter stream (or whatever the term is).

Million Dollar idea for free* - Twitter---->Blog. Invent a tool that allows people to utilize a stream of tweets for a blog post or blog post template without having to cut/paste each one. Imagine how easy it would be to recap a tourney or a trip to a casino to play cash games if you could just take your twitter stream and add a few details that you couldn't fit into 140 characters. It would definitely cause me to start posting more.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

(Hanukkah is over already I think)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

*Million Dollar idea may be an overstatement unless you could somehow figure out how to get people to buy it as an app. (That Steve Jobs guy is pretty smart or whoever works for him that came up with the pay per app concept.)

Yes, I haven't posted in a while, but I'm not going to make any excuses. I've been busy with work and family life and just haven't found the time or felt like posting much.

I am going to be out of town for most of the next month or so and figured that I can probably use what little down time that I have in the hotel room to learn how to play PLO cash games. I'm not talking about just watching a video or two and them jumping in and playing. I'm talking about trying to really learn in depth how to play PLO cash - watching several videos, reading as much as I can and running some simulations as I gradually start playing.

Who knows, I may not even like the game at the end of the day, but I at least want to give it a shot. The variance may drive me insane, but I won't know unless I give it a try.

I'm not sure which video series I will watch after that. I'll probably scan through KasinoKrime's (coach over at DC) extensive notes that he took while watching the different PLO video series and see which one seems the best.

I'll post my results (both good and bad), questions on hands, and other random PLO thoughts that pop into my head over the next month or two.

Any advice on resources (videos, books, blog posts, forum posts, etc, etc) would be appreciated. I'm probably not going to hire a coach for a little while, but let me know if you have any experiences or know of any good PLO coaches.

The content and number of posts both turn a big downturn almost 2 years ago, when I started my own business. I have trouble finding the motivation to post after spending all day on the computer, phone, in meetings, etc, etc.

1. Start some sort of challenge and post weekly or twice a week updates. - This seems like the best idea because I don't want to totally abandon this blog. Any suggestions? (I'm leaning towards some sort of cash challenge on FTP and SNG/MTT challenge on PS)

I met a lot of great people that I hadn't met before and ran into some awesome people that I had met before. There are a lot of people that I wanted to run into but didn't get a chance to for one reason or another. Sleep, tourneys, alcohol, laziness got in the way - take your pick.

In a $1.5k WSOP event folding to cash is OK, not OK, OK, not OK, OK (I have no idea), especially when you know you are flipping right b4 the cash.

EST is not Eastern Standard Time. It is "American time" - via RealDawnSummers

If you agree to flip for $200/hand for x (5 I think) hands while really drunk and finish up $800, it is OK to stop flipping no matter how much the other guy keeps asking you too. That is what I did, until he starting offering me his $350 to my $300 in omaha flips. (more later on this)

It probably isn't a good idea to stay up all night and watch the USA soccer game if you started drinking at 5 pm. I think I fell asleep for a few at the bar somewhere between 2-0 and 2-1. Credit Vinnay for waking me up a couple of times in the 2nd half.

It gets light outside really, really early in LV.

I play much better in tourneys while drinking and much worse in cash games while drinking. Hmmm......

It is probably a good idea to set an alarm to remind yourself to eat dinner. I think there were a couple of days that I only ate one meal unless 15 beers counts as a meal.

Don't order a burger if the waitress tells you, "Are you sure that you want to order that. It is extremely spicy and there are no refunds." Also, always read the read print under the burger that mentions the beef is mixed with the hottest peppers in the world.

It is OK to call someone a "jack ass" if they call the clock on you in a cash game when they aren't in the hand. (more on this later)

OBFV and over shoving for value on the flop works really live if you just shoved on a short stack with AK on an all rag flop after the short stack called 2/3rds of this stack pf. They must always think you have AK instead of top set.

Almost forgot - if you are having dinner at the bar, it is prob a good idea to put a few dollars in the vid p0ker machine.